Family Reunion "J" (7 page)

“We must be very quiet, Danny; these things may have excellent hearing.” She said this conspiratorially.

“What do you know about what’s going on?” Danny asked, matching her tone and volume.

“I think it’s aliens. They’ve been here for years, Danny. They’ve infiltrated our government; they’re using this flu pandemic to mask their invasion and using the vaccine to infect us all with their DNA.”

Danny immediately realized that this was how he sounded to Auddy upstairs.
Seriously, Dan, this is what you sound like.
He bowed his head and put his skepticism aside for the moment. “What have you heard or seen on TV about this, Winnie?” He used her first name, hoping she would answer.

“The president came on last night; you’d think he was a king or something the way he talked. He went on and on about how ‘he’ would save this country, about how ‘he’ would protect us. What a load of crap, Danny.”

“Winnie, what did they say about the virus?” he asked, trying again to pierce through the BS and get to the matter at hand.

“They said that the virus had mutated, and that the vaccine they sent out doesn’t work anymore. They recalled it.”

That threw up red flags in Danny’s brain immediately. He was a diabetic; he didn’t just go get a vaccine without thoroughly reading up on it. The little information out there on the vaccine hinted that it was a genetically modified cell or some kind of nanoparticle that they programmed to attack the virus. He had purposefully avoided it and talked Auddy out of going to get the shot.

He pushed on. “So, what are these zombie things running around out there?”

“Oh, those aren’t zombies, those are aliens.” She said it with such authority that he questioned his own sanity.

“Okay Winnie, do you want to come upstairs with me, until this blows over?”

“No, I’m fine. But before you go, I have something for you.”

She opened a linen closet. Only, it wasn’t a linen closet at all—it was a gun closet.

“Winnie, where did you get these?”

“I’ve been getting ready for this ever since Howard died. He used to bitch and moan that I was paranoid. Who’s paranoid now?”

“Honestly Winnie, I grew up in New Jersey. I’ve never even fired a gun before. Auddy’s dad is into guns, so she may know something about them. Which one should I take?”

She threw him a look.
“Tsk tsk tsk,”
she clucked. “Here, take one of these.” She handed him a pump shotgun. “The shells go in here.” She demonstrated loading a shell, then handed it to him with a handful of 2¾ double-aught buck shells. He followed her example and pushed another shell up into the space. The next one wouldn’t go. He looked at her, shrugging his shoulders.

“Oh, for Pete’s sake,” she muttered, taking it from him. She unscrewed the cap off the tube under the barrel. Then she removed the limiter plug, screwed the cap back on, and handed it back to him. “There, now it will hold six.” He loaded four more shells.

“Okay, now pump it,” she said. He’d seen this done on many movies and video games. He pumped the action swiftly. “Now add one more into the tube.” He started to flip the shotgun over. “No, you ninny. Here, this is the safety. Always check this, red means danger, as in you can blow your damn head off.” She chuckled. “Now add one more.”

He followed her instructions. She gave him two pistols and showed him how to load and operate them as well.

“Winnie, are you sure you don’t want to come upstairs with us?”

“Are you kidding, after what I just had to show you? I bet you a twenty I outlast you, kid.”

He did laugh at that. “Okay, well, pound on the ceiling if you need me.”

“Okay, and you pound on the floor when you need me.” She winked. He got the distinct impression she was enjoying this whole thing.

He went back upstairs after double-checking all of Winnie’s exterior doors. He worried about the sliding glass door that went out the back of her condo onto the porch. He wasn’t sure if it could withstand a direct assault, but she didn’t seem worried, so he said goodnight.

When he got back, Auddy listened as he told her some of what Winnie had said. He purposefully left out that she thought they were aliens to avoid the “I told you so.”

“Okay, let’s try and get some rest,” she said.

As keyed up as he was, Danny was surprised at how good it felt to sit down with Auddy cuddled next to him.

The loud boom of a shotgun discharging startled Auddy. She and Danny were on the couch and Danny had fallen asleep. Auddy shook his shoulder. “Danny, wake up! Danny!” She knew his sugar wasn’t low; he had tested it just after they settled down on the couch a few hours ago. She meant to put her fingers on his neck to check his pulse, but it was dark and she ended up jabbing him in the Adam’s apple. He sat up choking and coughing, grabbing at his neck and looking at her with wide eyes.

“I’m sorry Danny,” she said, “but there was a gunshot outside and you didn’t wake up.”

“So you thought it would be a good idea to karate chop me in the throat?” he said, massaging his neck.

She rolled her eyes. “Just listen, okay?” She put her hand on his leg to quiet him.

They both listened for a minute. “I don’t hear anything,” he said, still checking her out like he wasn’t sure she hadn’t changed into a zombie.

The next shotgun blast sounded like it was right outside their front door. Danny grabbed the shotgun Winnie had given him and checked the safety, then strode toward the front door.

“Where are you going?” Auddy said, following him toward the door.

“I have to see what’s going on.”

“The hell you say?” Auddy complained. “No, you don’t!”

He turned back to her. “If Mrs. Honaker is in trouble, I have to do something.”

Auddy stopped, turned around, picked up one of the pistols from the coffee table. “Then I’m coming with you.” He started to protest, but she stared him down. “Well?”

“Okay, but stay behind me. I don’t want to accidently shoot you.”

The pistol she had was a revolver. She knew the difference between it and a semiautomatic. Other than that, she had no idea if it was a .22 or .357. When she had asked Danny how it worked, he cocked the hammer back for her and said, “Just point it and shoot.”

Danny could see nothing out the peephole in the front door. “I’m going to open the door. Be ready to slam it if one of those things attacks.” Auddy’s only response was to nod her head at him, never taking her eye off the door. They were at the edge of the glow from the candles and Danny wasn’t sure if she heard him or not. He barked at her,
“Okay?”
That startled her and she flinched. The pistol went off. Danny dropped the shotgun and grabbed at his side as he fell to the floor.

“Oh my
God,
Danny.” Auddy bent over him as he rocked back and forth on the floor.

“I’m okay, I’m okay,” he said, holding his right side. The bullet had grazed his skin, tearing his shirt, and just barely left a thin line of blood. He took his hand away so that she could look at it.

“I could have killed you,” she said as she began to cry, her breathing coming in gasps.

“I’m okay, look at it, it’s just a scratch. It burns a little, but it’s nothing, really. Now, wait here. I have to go check on Winnie.” He stood up and retrieved the shotgun.

“Wait!” Auddy went to him and pulled up his shirt. “Let me at least put something on this.” Tears still running down her face, she took the flashlight and went to the bathroom. She came back with a roll of toilet paper and headed to the kitchen. Danny stood there holding up his shirt, looking at the pathetic wound.

Auddy returned from the kitchen and rolled out a good amount of toilet paper. She folded it down and held it over the scratch. “Here, hold this,” she said, and Danny did as instructed. She produced a roll of duct tape and peeled off a strip. Before Danny could protest, she slapped the duct tape over the toilet paper bandage. She applied a couple more strips of tape, then admired her handiwork.

In the chaos of the last few minutes, they had both lost their focus on what was happening downstairs. Another blast of a shotgun and the crash of breaking glass returned their attention to their original intent.

“Okay, I think it would be best if you wait here,” Danny said as he kissed her on the forehead. He expected her to argue, but to his surprise, she didn’t.

He opened the door a crack and looked around. The smell of cordite hung in the air and he heard something rustling around in the bushes in front of their building. He scurried to the railing of the porch and peered down at the bushes. He stuck the shotgun between the rails and aimed at the big bush right in front of Mrs. Honaker’s bedroom window. He clicked off the safety and was about to shoot when he heard Winnie’s voice. “That’ll show you, you damned ET sons’a bitches!” Mrs. Honaker’s bent form struggled free of the bush.

“Winnie, you okay?” he whispered loudly.

“Danny? Yeah, I’m fine. You took your sweet damn time coming to my rescue.”

Danny went down the stairs and approached her. When he got closer, he saw the eighty-year-old woman in a housecoat, pieces of bush in her hair, standing over a body. Her shotgun still pointed at the inert form lying lifeless on the front lawn.

She poked it with the barrel of the gun. “Your fancy alien ass is dead now, isn’t it?” She looked up at Danny and grinned. “Got two of ’em, one out back and this one here.”

Danny pointed the flashlight at the body and recognized the alien. “Ah, Winnie, that’s Mr. Dietrich.”

She bent closer and looked. “Huh, they must be using our own against us, like them pod people.”

They both heard the loud shrieking. It sounded close. “Come on, let’s get inside.” He directed her by grabbing her elbow and pulling her to the front door. Once inside, Danny scanned the room with his flashlight. He stopped on the ruined sliding glass door. He was about to comment on it when another of the pod people came at them through the remnants of the door. Danny swung the shotgun up and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. The thing was only feet from them when Winnie’s shotgun boomed right next to him.

His ears ringing, he heard Winnie shout at him to get into the bathroom. He was headed in that direction when she let loose another blast. He got to the door and turned back, shining his light toward Winnie.

“Get that damn light out of my eyes, you trying to blind me?” she said as she went by him at a fast shuffle.

Coming down the long grade on Interstate 68 from Cooper’s Rock, she took in the sight of Cheat Lake. The Cheat River emptied into the lake, which normally was covered with boats, people skiing, fishing, or just spending the day relaxing. Now, it looked as deserted as the interstate. Jay started to wonder at the scale of the situation in which she found herself. Were people just hiding from the crazies behind locked doors? Or was it worse than that?

She exited the interstate, got on Route 857, and turned into the gas station just beyond the off-ramp. There were several cars at the pumps, but no sign of people. She shut off the engine and climbed off the Harley. She stretched her back and took off the brain bucket. Even though the Road King was much more comfortable than its smaller relative, riding any bike was still more taxing than riding in a car.

She shrugged her shoulders and rolled her neck; it cracked and felt better immediately.
Huh?
Her neck never cracked like that before. She stepped up to the pump, dug out her debit card, and slid it in and out of the slot.
See Attendant
flashed on the small screen.

Jay looked around; the lights in the store were on. She fought the urge to get on the Harley and ride.
Damn, guess there is nothing to do but go in.
She walked over to the door and peered in. Sitting in a chair behind the counter was an old man with a shotgun across his lap. He smiled and waved her in.

She tentatively opened the door a crack, still not sure if this was a great idea. “Come on in, cash or trade, no credit,” he said with a chuckle. She opened the door the rest of the way and stepped in. The shelves were stocked and the store looked clean and neat.